Quick nail colours - nail stickers review

Ok, today's review is on stick on nail colours that's pretty popular lately. As a OL (office lady), I noticed that at least 40% of the babes in office are spotted with nail arts these days. The trend is extremely prevalent amongst the 20s-30s group. I guess this group has greater willingness to spend. A gelish manicure with some form of nail decal would cost abt sgd$80 and last abt 3 weeks. That's quite a bit of money if you ask me. Not to mention the return soak off to remove the gelish would cost abt $10-20? Non gelish manicure would cost abt $50 with decal and last 1-2 weeks. 

My recommendation? DIY! I love nail DIY! A bottle of OPI would only cost abt $20 ($10 if you buy from push carts at certain places although I can't guaranteed the authenticity) and can last you through a number of manicures on your own. The only problem is generally some imperfection when you try to do your own manicure. Well, based on online videos, I think practice makes perfect? A lot of girls main grouse abt traditional nail polish is that they don't like to wait around for the polish to dry. Solutions? Quick dry top coat. I got mine from OPI. Just apply a drop on 2 to each painted finger and its supposed to dry up the paint within a min. It's not cheap, I think it's $23 from retail stores. Maybe there are cheaper version online.

And if you don't like to accidentally fall aslp and wake up to find that you had destroyed ur artwork while you slp, you may like the latest nail polish stickers instead. Here's a pic of my Polkadots DIY with a nail sticker set bought from Korea. 

Basically the steps are fast and simple:

1) Apply a base coat

2) Take a strip of the nail sticker with the size that has the closest fit to the finger you are working on. (You may find it difficult to find a strip closest to your pinky, in that case you just have to trim the stickers)

3) Cut off the excess length of the sticker that sticks out of your nail with a pair of scissors. For a close fit, use a nail file and file off the excess sticker.

4) Apply a quick dry top coat to seal in your sticker. You are done! The nail colour should last you at least 1-2 weeks.

I can't recall how much I paid for mine but you can get the nail stickers on Qoo10 at the price of ard $3-4. Or you can get them from major brands like Sally  Hansen at $10-15. You can explore if the more expensive versions are better. ;-)

Azmaya @ Robertson Quay

So as I was saying in my previous post, my kind girl friend said she's bringing me to Robertson Quay to eat some great Shabu Shabu. She's not kidding. My idea of Shabu Shabu is a plate of meat you dip into some veg soup to cook (I'd mainly tried in local Japanese restaurant chains like Sushi Teh). Her idea of Shabu Shabu is gigantic (many) plates of meat with a big howl of veg (refillable) - buffet style. Check out the amount of pork slices on one plate, all thinly sliced to perfection! You can ask for unlimited plates too! The price of the Shabu Shabu buffet is merely $24 per pax. I say it's cheap! Disclaimer - their premium beef selection is much more costly. Think it's around $70 per pax.

And here's the veggie bowl with a variety of veggie types. 

There are 3 types of soup base you can choose from. The free one consist of water + seaweed. The other two options consist of one that's spicy and another one that's a mix of soya and egg white ($3 extra for these two types). Well, my friend said she likes the one with seaweed. It's pretty plain really. But actually after you throw in the veg and meat, you don't really need a fancy soup! However, if you prefer a flavorful soup base, the waitress raved abt the soya and egg white soup. Here's our gigantic pot of water + seaweed. (Seriously great inspiration for cooking noob like me to try at home eh?)

Here's a pic with everything in:

Really easy to cook, and smokeless! Feels healthy too! ;-P 

Here's me and le girl friend with faces of glee and greed. 

Oh btw, the shop owners are true blue Japanese and the mid size store is filled with Japanese. I think the guy who took our order was one of the owners and he tried his best to explain to us the food items in English. According to my friend, the other shop owner she met previously is cuter. Awwww... Donno she is there for food or man. Haha! I didn't take a picture of the place! It looks ordinary lah. Not too grand nor shabby. 

Oh ya, to my huge surprise, while the pricing for the buffet at $24 is already reasonably priced, my fren knew there was a promo going at 50% off until the end of the month! While the price of 2 pax Shabu Shabu buffet (pork), 1 choya and 1 ice oolong would have worked out to over $70, the 50% discount for buffet brought the cost down to about $45 I total with GST and service charge. Amazing! My rating (assuming normal price): 8.5/10 as the stuff was really fresh and that the place has a homely feel and doesn't look overly commercial. I will go back again before the end of the June promotion! ;-D

Laurent's Cafe & Chocolate Bar

My dear friend brought me to Robertson Quay for dinner today. The Shabu Shabu dinner was great. Shall blog about it in another entry. Just wanna do a quick entry on the dessert we had at this chocolate speciality cafe called Laurent's Cafe & Chocolate Bar which was near our dinner place.

The haze was crazy so we seat indoor. It's not the first time my friend had dessert here. And so she knows it's good. This is how the interior looks like. 

 

It's a pretty but small cafe. As you see there is a small glass counter displaying their pretty cakes. Sorry I didn't snap a pic as I was busy catching up with my friend. At the far corner of the pic you can see a section of the cafe converted into mini shop selling chocolates they made. Didn't check out the price. Will do the next time. 

And here's our dessert: After 8 soufflé ($14). Please note it takes 30 mins for them to bake it. ( I think we received it within 15 mins, but I wasn't timing.) It's damn pretty lah! And it's my first time eating this kinda dessert. The plastic tube u see on the soufflé is a tube of mint syrup you squeeze into the soufflé based on how minty you want it to be. We squeezed the whole thing in. Next, we are supposed to dig a hole in the middle of the soufflé to pour in the mini jar of choc you see in the pic. I noticed the souffle already contained some choc when we dig in. We didn't pour in all the extra choc in one go in case it's too sweet. The soufflé has a texture of.... soft steamed egg white. The crust on top is a teeny bit crunchy (think it's sugar). Maybe I'm suaku, but I find this thing really unique. Extra point for the uniqueness! You can tell it takes some skill to make this. My dear friend said she will try to google the recipe. Lol. I hope she succeed in her attempt to make this! I will rate this 7.5/10. Why? I took off some points as I think it's a bit too sweet for me and it's not cheap. Thank god we are sharing the dessert. If I'm having the whole thing I will die from sugar high. But those with a sweet tooth would probably rate it higher. But overall I think it's worth it to try, especially for sharing between girls or a couple. It's a pretty cool new tasting experience for me. The thing kinda melt in your mouth.

Next I also ordered their signature hot chocolate - Classic Caraibe ($9). It's kinda weird for me to order a hot chocolate as I'm such a coffee addict! But I was thinking - hey I'm in a chocolatier! Results? - Regret for me. But maybe it is totally no fault of the cafe again, as I'm not an avid choc fan to begin in. Once again I find it much too sweet for me. It's sweeter than the soufflé. It basically tasted like those high class milk choc melted over fire into liquid form. Very dense and extra sinful. You can see a layer of hardened choc forming if you leave the cup untouched for a few mins. I don't recall my last hot chocolate drink being so dense. I had expected it to be more fluid. Anyway, to side track, my fren actually said it tasted bitter ( I dunno who's taste bud is damaged between the two of us although we both find the earlier dinner yummilicious). Anyway, I was glad I have her to help me finish it. It also comes with a cube of atas chocolate on the side. I let my friend have it hence no comment on that. My verdict on the drink: 6/10. I say try their desserts instead! 

Madam Kwan's Nasi Lemak Vivo City

I heard the raving abt this famous Madam Kwan's nasi lemak restaurant that would be open at Vivo City since a few months ago. Well, it's open now so I'm gonna rant abt it! Please see the picture on the dishes ordered.

I ordered this dish called Nasi Bojari (top image) stated on the menu as (add nice descriptive words here) beef rendang, asam prawns and fried chicken with (I think is briyani) rice. I had thought that the rendang and prawns would be a bit more generous but they looked more like some paste you use to season the chicken instead. There were two small prawns in the "asam prawns". Sibei stingy you would think at $18.90?? 

The second pic shows the famous nasi lemak ($13.90). I think you might be as surprised as we are that the image is "nasi lemak". We thought that was the nasi bojari too. We even clarified with the waiter... Nasi lemak with curry chicken? Strange. Maybe it's atypical of Singapore style nasi lemak and it's Malaysian style? Oh by the way Madam Kwan's is a famous restaurant fr our neighboring KL. 

We also ordered one of SG's fav style veg - balachan kang kong ($10.90), third image. And to save money, we ordered 2 ice water ($1 each. Yes they charge for water)

Verdict: Overrated and badly over-priced. Both me and le bf feels the same loh! I will give it at most 4 out of 10 based on Meowie's own system of grading that focused on yumminess, price, and outlook of food and restaurant (Ya la, presentation affects our taste buds you know? If the food is cheap then I would give a big discount to the outlook segment.) The food tastes average. Not particularly delicious. The waiter said the famous nasi lemak's selling point is in fact the curry sauce that they usually charge for, but provides for free if the order is for nasi lemak. I think the curry is not bad. But really, the dish doesn't really fit the name of nasi lemak to me. And the price tag is pretty steep for 2 pieces of chicken, half a hard boiled egg and some seasoned veg. The nasi bojari taste average too. In fact I think the lemak is comparatively better. The balachan kang kong is nothing to rave abt. Adds: We were not offered any nasi lemak chili on the side. I think they might charge too. Haha!

Total bill of the 3 dishes and 2 ice water? $53.80!!!! Please! If you have money to blow, go for something better at Vivo itself. Abundant options there. Otherwise I think Food Republic food court serves better food at a fraction of the price. And,  to add a little more damage - the restaurant was extremely noisy (weekday evening) and dimly-lit. I say if you desire strongly to try it, please go ahead. Maybe we have different taste buds. But don't say I didn't warn you on the price you shall pay (literally). Maybe the one at KL is indeed marvelous. I dunno. I will tell you if I visit the restaurant when I go KL. 

Meowie's standard snapshot with le food

After a devastating dinner. I went for a dessert to uplift my spirit. I wanna rave abt this dessert I had at the dessert store on the second floor (above the more famous "Honeymoon" desserts on the 1st floor). It's the first time I try the desserts at this place and I apologise that I forgot to even take down the name. The direction is simply one floor above the 满记. I had durian shave ice. It's freaking awesome la. I recommend it to all durian lovers like me. It comes with durian ice, a scoop of durian puree, ice jelly and sago. $6.90. Verdict: 9/10. I discounted 1 pt simply because I'm cynical. It's hard to score full pts with Meowie lah. See photo on the dessert. Yum.

First post!

Starting a new blog to share with the world on Meowie's reviews on food, travel, fun stuff, new products, latest movie and anything Singaporean loves, or in fact anyone may love!

A little abt Meowie. I'm not your typical attention loving, full of drama, hip young blogger! Nothing wrong with being young. Just that I'd passed that age! I'm just an average homegrown Singapore OL (a.k.a Office Lady) earning an average income. So I'm not gonna blog on the reviews of the latest hot branded goods or the most expensive restaurants in SG or anywhere else. Instead, I hope my blog will be useful to self confessed average Jane like myself through sharing on stuff that are more within reach to average ppl. And I hope blogging abt stuff I like or dislike would keep my joy of life vivid and colorful. And ya, I don't write in perfect English so pls - no grammar warriors ok!

My nick is Mz Purrrfect. No lah, I'm not perfect, although I hope I am. I think everyone can aim to be better! Haha! Yes, I like kitty stuff, hence the purring. ;-D